Who's that guy?

Christian Skoda is a German Traveler with a 'Rat Race History' of 14 years in a big European ITC firm up to VP and Director level before finally calling it quits. He retired aged 34 to live his dream - a Nomadic Lifestyle in Asia - Singapore, Thailand, Goa/India and currently commuting between his favorite paradise locations in Bali/Indonesia and the Philippines.

The Philippines were one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to embrace wireless 3G or UMTS technology for internet access. Blessed (or punished) with more than 7.000 islands, digging and laying down landlines was naturally a big endeavor for this developing country.

So all the way until the mid 90’s the country was one of the laggards in regards to internet access, with Dial-up speeds and slow dedicated lines ruling the access options. Due to the high penetration rates of mobile phones, business leaders soon recognized the great potential for mobile phone based or wireless internet options:

So when 3G/UMTS as an extension of then slower GPRS for GSM came along, the Philippines were at the forefront of its adoption.

3G/UMTS services in the Philippines

Other Asian countries were relatively slow in adapting 3G/UMTS services, as they mainly had already an abundance of access options, like Dial-up, Cable, ISDN, DSL or even WiFi-point-based solutions.

In the Philippines, incumbent telecommunications provider Globe Telecom first didn’t see 3G/UMTS as an interesting service, more like a thread to existing services; also a pricey one – as UMTS licenses in Europe and other countries were auctioned off for exorbitant prices in the last years of the internet bubble. So they were slow to roll-out an UMTS network or upgrade their existing mobile network from GPRS to 3G or even 3.5G capacity.

Thankfully another provider jumped into the gap left by Globe, rolled out and extended their 3G network and these days is years ahead compared to Globe Telecom, except maybe in the Metro Manila areas. This provider is Smart.

There are some minor mobile providers in the Philippines like Sun Cellular or TM, but the first only offers 3G services in the Manila area, the latter is a mere budget-reseller of Globe services without the internet access option.

So the services to look out for – are Smart Bro/Buddy and Globe Tattoo (previously called Visibility).

Both, Globe and Smart, offer time-based internet access service on a prepaid basis, as that’s is the main form of mobile contract here in the Philippines. There are volume-based alternatives also, but they are currently not competitive. You can either access the internet with your mobile phone or use one the USB sticks/modems provided by the providers.

Avoid buying the complete starter package of either Globe or Smart – as these USB dongles are sim-locked to the respective provider. They are a useless investment, if the service doesn’t work in your area or if you are planning to change your provider. Also they are expensive.

Better buy an independent UMTS PC Card (like the unlocked Sierra Wireless card pictured to the right) or use a Netbook like the Acer One with UMTS option instead. They are not locked to any provider and you can simply slide in the SIM card of your preferred access option. The standard prepaid SIM cards of Smart or Globe go for as low as 40 Pesos – yes, sometimes they are even given away for free in promotions of big shopping malls, like SM Mall, Ayala, Robinson Mall or else.

Thus you are more independent and can change the provider ‘on the fly’, if one service is down in your area.

Prepaid Offers: Globe offers 15 minutes for 5 Pesos, Smart offers 30 minutes for 10 Pesos. That looks on first view like a win for Globe, due to the lower time unit – but wait a minute! If you get disconnected – what can easily happen in a lower coverage area – you will pay another 5 Pesos again, even if you didn’t consume your 15 minutes yet. With Smart you can disconnect/reconnect as often as you please within your 30 minute period. It’s basically a draw – but something to consider.

Speeds: Both providers offer similar speeds on paper, with Smart having the upper hand in reality. Both start with simple 3G, which is theoretically up to 384 kbps bandwidth. An extension to that is HSDPA, which can go as high as 3.6 Mbps of bandwidth, although Smart offers maximum 2 Mbps. There is of course a huge difference between theory and reality. In reality I never had higher download speeds than 90 kbps with Smart and 40-50 kbps with Globe – which doesn’t sound like a lot, but is still good enough to surf the web, use Skype for telephony and video chat, check out YouTube Videos and even download the odd larger patch or software.

Coverage: During the trip around the country I found the coverage of Globe Tattoo mediocre at best, mostly it wasn’t even available in bigger towns – not even GPRS speeds. Exceptions are the island of Luzon and the Metro Manila area. There are also some university towns that are covered by Globe Tattoo as well, but they are few and far between. So probably one reason why Globe changed the name to Tattoo was, that their Globe Visibility service was actually a ‘Globe Invisibility service’.

Compare that with the coverage of Smart Bro, which is literally available anywhere – even in/on smaller cities and islands. The only exceptions were Samar and Leyte, which has the least developed 3G internet infrastructure. Tacloban and Ormoc on Leyte were the few exceptions here, the rest of the 2 islands had maximum GPRS speeds available. Gloibe was literally non-existant. Smart also offers generally country-wide higher speeds like HSDPA, an extension to the standard 3G speeds, which are offered by Globe only around Makati and Ermita in Manila.

Reliability: The reliability of both services is pretty good – when you have coverage. There are some disconnects from time to time – but simply reconnect and the data flows again. Also you can experience some longer outages from time to time. Here again I had more troubles with Globe than with Smart. With Globe Tattoo I also had issues using POP3 mail, which could only be received, but not sent. Also the upload speeds are where SmartBro really shines – you can upload almost as fast as download – which is important, if you use Online Services like Flickr.com or Dropbox to backup your pictures or personal files. Globe is on the losing end in that regard again.

I’m currently sitting here on Bantayan Island – a small island about 10km away from Cebu island – and having 4 bars out of 5 standard 3G speed with Smart Bro here. Globe Tattoo isn’t even showing any faster speed than plain GPRS connection, that is somewhere in the 8-12 kbps range, similar to analogue modem dial-up.

Conclusion

If you are roaming the country, there is only one clear winner here – it’s SmartBro!

It’s virtually available anywhere, the speeds are decent and the realiability is acceptable. The world of Globe is mainly restricted to the Metro Manila area.

I wonder if they still think, that the world is flat?

In Manila they are even under more threads also; with new rivals like Sun Cellular joining the 3G competition. But hey – more competition, good for the consumer, right?

If you stay mainly in one area – it doesn’t hurt to try out both. Maybe even Sun Cellular is offering 3G services in your area!

So what to do? Don’t fall for their sim-locked Starter Kits! Get a UMTS Card for your PC, use a Netbook with UMTS slot or simply your 3G-ready phone. Just buy a prepaid SIM card, which can go as low as 40 Pesos for Smart, Globe or Sun in most locations. Try out which service works most reliable in your area. Use the other SIM card as a backup service, in case your main provider is experiencing an outage.

This way, you have the best of all worlds. Agree or disagree – which one works better for you? Are there even better mobile internet options? Please share your experiences here!

116 Responses to “3G/UMTS Internet – SmartBro or Globe Tattoo in the Philippines?”

Hi, Chris. This is an interesting posts. A lot of would-be wireless broadband subscribers are really trying to find some comparisons before settling to a provider they would stick with.
I’m using a USB dongle from Sun Broadband (network-locked) and now I got issues here since we are moving to a new home. In our new location, there is no Sun Broadband signal and GSM signal (for the phone) is even very weak. I’m stuck with a network I can’t use for now and it’s postpaid.
If only I’ve known of that unlocked Sierra Wireless card before, then I could have just get the Sun Broadband postpaid SIM only, and at least, I can use any other wireless broadband provider for the meantime.
Now, I know…

I used the Globe Visibility Kit HSDPA before but I rarely get any signals even in my own apartment building – so I chucked it and sent it back to my parents. Just using a standard DSL from PLDT. Reasonably fast since I do not share this connection with any other computers. With Smart, its 3G is quite good – I can surfed the net on my mobile and access my social networking sites. Very good coverage as well. Even if I was in a secluded beach in Coron or on top of the mountains in Sagada – I got clear 3G coverage.I also use my mobile for purchases along with its local Mastercard tie-up which I can use for booking my airline tickets online. Sweet!

dodong, that pricing of Sun Cellular looked quite interesting, unfortunately, outside of Manila they only offer telephony (but no 3G/internet yet) services. I also stumbled across one redmobile.com provider, but looks similar, not much coverage in the country outside.

Ryan, I would love to use a more fixed and flat rate solution, unfortunately I would have to sign at least a 1-year-contract. Hmmmmm. So yeah, I bet that DSL or fixed line contracts are still the best value for money – the 999 Peso Flatrate of Smart looks good also, although you’ll need a permanent address for that one….

Hi, Chris. It’s 24-month contract for a postpaid subscription just like mine. If you don’t want a lock-in contract, you can buy the USB dongle for P1,895 and subscribe for a postpaid without any holding period. You just pay for the SIM card. You can terminate the postpaid subscription anytime. And you’re only required one valid identification to show. This information is only for Sun since I didn’t have any experience with Smart or Globe. Unfortunately, Sun Broadband is initially available here in Manila as of this time.

For one reason I never liked Sun Cellular for its very poor coverage and it is so hard to connect to other networks- reckon I haven’t heard anything from Red Mobile yet- seen a spate of ads on TV but they are kind of fairly quiet lately. Overall, Globe has the more yuppie, upper-class appeal – but generally – BAAAD Customer Service, spotty signals in some areas. Smart has a more pedestrian appeal, not very exciting actually, but has the best coverage I ever had so far. Sun – well you know the deal – very limited coverage.

What I am looking for is that they would be able to boost multimedia commerce – mobile, internet and real time – Smart has its Smart Money Card now- but very limited use. It’s debit facility now allows you to book Philippine Airlines tickets. Wish it can include a lot of other merchants as well. Maybe hookup Paypal?
Right now, getting a PayPal account is very complicated if you are not using a Credit Card, it would be great if Smart can do something about that.

Ryan, that’s right. Multimedia commerce. I’ve decide to stick long time ago to one service provider only. That’s why I drop my other network provider it’s only Sun which is left of me. I used to have Smart Money since 2001 and it was working pretty well. I like it very much since I didn’t need to use my credit card anymore (which is too bad if you would overspend). The following year, the card expired and I didn’t received the replacement. I kept on making follow ups, talking to Smart customer care over the phone and to the extent of visiting their Wireless Center in SM Iloilo (I was working in Iloilo back then). I was just promised it would soon arrive. It took me more than a year to make a follow up and nothing happened. That’s until I went back to Manila. I tried to make a follow up of the renewal of my Smart Money card here in Manila but I was told that I would be given a new number since the replaced card had already been expired for quite a long time. I could have agreed if it can still be topped with my Smart cellphone, but I was told it is not possible since the former was already topped with the old Smart Money card. I was adviced to get another SIM card of which such option turn out to be impractical on my part. I finally decided to give up Smart Money card. And so I thought the technology was only testing the waters and maybe gone soon. But now, I’m seeing Smart Money is gaining even more use. It’s a good news. But I can’t help it but to be pissed off everytime I’d see that huge billboard near SM North EDSA promoting Smart Money card when they really have a very terrible customer service. How can they expand into a bigger market when they cannot even fix their internal customer care management?

So, I’m just waiting that Sun Cellular can provide the kind of service – that you can use your Sun phone to pay for your train ticket, meals, shopping etc. For now, I can just only hope…

I was just thinking that I would use the Smart card like for specific purchases – I was able to use it purchasing a plane ticket over Air Asia – so I guess that works. Top it up, and then use it right away – I never planned to use it for anything out side of that. I dun like credit cards – bad experience – paid over 2,000 USD for my Standard Chartered Visa. bleh.I had it cut and I prefer using cash.;P

eld, so it’s probably the same concept like with Globe/TM. A budget version to utilize their existing infrastructure? Hmmm, their internet prices are higher though (7.50 peso for 15 minutes = 15 Pesos/30 minutes), their voice/text offerings look cheaper…

Funny, I just had a big problem withmy wife about the lack of anything other than very expensive next G coverage in the remote Aboriginal community I am working in at the moment. She found it impossible to believe that I couldn’t phone her or that there was no internet cafe here. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out the best option and buy a laptop as well as next G usb so we can chat daily as we always have when I’m away working.
Filipinos take it for granted that even in the most remote places there will be cafe’s and decent affordable communications.
She was only convinced I was telling her the truth when I sent her a bunch of articles on the 3rd world in Australia.
As for the contents of the article I would agree, Smart is the best generally.
The only problem we have had often with Smart is in peak usage times the service drops out a lot. It is often in these times when if I call her I will get a break in signal while if she calls me she will not. I suppose this makes sense as the carrier makes it’s money on outgoing calls rather than incoming.

Teks, most computer shops who specialize in communication (routers, wifi devices, etc.) also should have that in stock. Depending on where you live it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one, just shop around a bit. Ah, I see you are in the Philippines, you might want to check Octagon (they have them for sure) or even CDR-King.

The more interesting the blog would be..the marrier. anyway, im planning to buy a UMTS pc card..but since availabilty of the product is so transparent. i must admit that buying the smartbro at it current promo 995 is basically not just a win-win situation between both sides… i must admit, it maybe lock to smart communications only for smartbro…unlocking it to be used for another network is a hundred percent easy. no sweat. but since smart has the most widely available cell sites, you stick to it…its quite cheap also.connection speeds up to 7.2mbps is good enough for browsing… downloading at rates of 90kbps? is widely dependent on your position. if you are located at atleast 50% of the 50 mile radius of WWAN the connection is fine. Not sure if atmospheric interference is a factor, currently im using an adapter soon il be buying the 995 smartbro promo… tnx

trebor, yes you will get a new sim card just for data services. If you have one of Smart already, you can use that one also and phone, sms/text with the same one.

tepiwepi, the Sierra Card is meanwhile discontinued, but there are similar and other cards in the market. There is so much development, prices and form factors change all the time. Check out your local IT supplier and I’m sure you will something (an unlocked 3G/UMTS card/device) that works for you….

Your review is spot on! I also travel around the country quite frequently because of my work and have both a smart bro and globe tattoo USB modem (the smart bro modem is company issue while i bought the globe tattoo modem for personal use). I can’t stress enough how unreliable globe’s internet service is outside most major cities is. I experienced more dropped connection in the span of 5 minutes than i can count on my fingers! And thats even in locations with more than 80% signal strength! In most rural areas i’ve been globe is pretty much non-existent. Though smart bro has more coverage and has a stronger signal, there where still areas with weak or no 3G coverage at all. All in all, both have their strengths and weakness, but for the most part, smart bro is still better than globe tattoo in most aspects.

Thank you, thank you, thank you soooo much for this article and the advice. I’m a balikbayan from washington dc, planning a trip to manila in november 2009. I wanted to make sure I can stay connected at all times, by voice, sms and internet without shelling out too much money. I’m currently with verizon which runs primarily on cdma network but recently traded my phone up to a global-capable one. So this whole sim card and gsm and hsdpa and whatever other acronyms are new to me. I was about to get a prepaid from Globe but based on your advice and the others here in the column, I guess I’m going with Smart. Again, thanks!

amarc, you are welcome. I’m happy that you could take something out of the article and that other readers could help with their comments to shape your opinion. That’s the whole goal of the exercise here. Good luck with your connection and have a safe trip!

Sergey, kbps is kilobit per second and I reached that several times. Many times on Bantayan, where I lived near the Smart tower and which obviously has only a few Smart 3G users.

A residential address is not a big problem, if you plan to stay in one place longer (at least 1 year or so). Otherwise it would make obviously less sense to subscribe to a postpaid service, as the requirements are more stringent and you end up spending more money. If in doubt and you want to stay mobile, prepaid is the cheaper and safer way to go for you.

Sergey, wait, that was probably my mistake. The download speed is in KB/sec (not kbps) – that what Firefox or a Download Manager shows. Before you compared Philippines with India: definitely Philippines has a 10 times faster and more reliable internet than anything you might have experienced in India (which technology did you use there anyway and where?).

No seriously, there are worlds between India’s CDMA Dial-up services, be it Tata Indicom or Reliance – and the modern 3G networks in the Philippines. It doesn’t work all the time and perfectly fast everywhere; but no comparison with Goa, trust me on this.

In response to post # 19 (khmer lee), 3G/UMTS/HSDPA is not a 4G WIMAX which capable of a distance of 50miles or more in a “line of sight” signal. The current technology being used right now in the Philippines is 3G/3.5G hence the HSPDA/HSUPDA . Only Globe started to implement “4G Wimax” in a limited no. outside the cities mostly in the provinces in a limited no. which capable of 75kilometer distance line of sight per cell. They also uses a different type of modem for 4G which the current modem of your cellphone and or USB modem are not compatible..

Anyway all pinoy internet users should be familiar of 80/80 rules sa internet speed. example, if they published/claimed a 2.0mbps speed, we expect a constant 1.6mbps speed (80% of 2.0) at 80% of the time… hence the 80/80 rules.. the rest of 10% should be on the upper range and the 10% just “near” below of 80%..it can’t be at the speed of 50kbs, 100kbs, 200kbs, or even 500kbs majority of the time if you subscribed at 2.0mbps..

this 80/80 Quality of Service are the norm de facto of other countries .. these big 3 companies knows this 80/80 rules but just turning a blind eyes and giving us poor performance speed here in pinas!

Good question, cheng. No easy answer. It probably will work, as almost all network providers have partner agreements with international carriers in other countries. For sure they don’t have their own network infrastructure there. So providing a service abroad is done via roaming through other networks. And yeah, the roaming charges will most likely kill you, so better get a prepaid service in the country you are traveling to.

im planning to set-up 3G PTZ cameras in Isabela city, philippines, and I have UMTS 3G PTZ camera, can you teach me how to configure the Sim card I will be using. can you give me basic steps, do i need some procedures to follow like establishing the network, etc. because its my first time to encounter 3G configuration , pls help.

rey, I have no idea, how you can set up this antenna configuration. I hope that it comes with a manual and some installation/driver disks. Usually you use the connection manager of your operating system, your hardware or the internet provider you are using. Also the ports I can’t check, as I’m currently not in the Philippines. But the initial investment is pretty low (just get the SIM card prepaid), so you can figure that out easily when you are setting up the system. Worst case, you might have to buy another SIM card of the alternative provider in your region. Or – to avoid that – you drop by a local computer shop and ask, how they use their mobile internet. They should be able to give you better and updated information for your region than I would ever be able to do from afar. Thanks and good luck!

hi chris pls give some advice i wnt to go to philippilines and i wnt to have internet connection wher i will buy for it? its my first time to use dongle what shoul i do for having a good internet connection and my place in dipolog mindanao

rose, just read the above article. It gives you all the information you need. If you are still confused, ask other people in your town, what they use and what works best there. Based on their reports then drop by at a Smart or Globe outlet in your town. They will help to install the internet for you accordingly. Serious! ;;)

hi chris,
thanks for your comment,actually, i have two options 1 ) is using PTZ camera with simcard slot, and its only needs little configuration, to view the camera anywhere.
2) by using router 3G, i bought it and it needs USB modem from smart, globe or sun,

so for option2, i think i need to configure it my my laptop first then after configuration i will let the PTZ camera + Router + modem works as standalone and can view the camera anywhere right?

rey, am sorry, but I can only reiterate my tips from comment #43. Go to a local computer shop or to any of Smart’s outlets – they should be able to help you.

I don’t know your hardware configuration, I never used any like that and don’t know what the problem might be. Also, I’m no expert, just a user, currently in Indonesia, I have no chance checking ports or other SLA’s of Smart. A professional computer service should be able to help you or Smart directly, if you use their service.

Either way, a local solution will probably be the way to go for you… :-/

right now, im testing my DOO-LINK 432 3.5 G Router, and i used to try Globe Tatoo, the results was its only keeps dialing and dialing only, it cannot connected.
can you advice what is the exact model of Hua wei USB globe Tatoo for me to check the compatibility with my router.
thanks,
rey

rey, are you reading at least my answers? I’m really sorry, but I am the wrong guy for those details.

Neither do I have the technical knowledge nor did I ever use canopy antennas, routers, port forwarding or any Huawei, DVR, PTZ or Doo-link hardware to connect to the internet. Therefore I can’t help you with your detailed setup, compatibility check or WAN configuration. But the people who sold you that stuff can! Thank you!

I really liked your insights on this topic. I’ve googled everything as to which is the better buy betweeen smart and globe and you really laid it out very nicely for me. Thanks for this very very helpful article! I will try to look for that umts card you suggested. Good thing I stopped myself from rushing to buy the dongle a while ago. (But based from what you observed and from the comments here, I think I’d go for SmartBro if there’s no umts card available)

Hi Oan, the above mentioned card is meanwhile discontinued, but there are many un-locked alternatives out there, for PCMCIA (PC Card) slots, SD Card slots or also USB. Just get what you need or if you buy a new netbook/notebook, some even come with an 3G adapter inbuilt. For me it was well worth the extra costs, than having another accessory to deal with.

I have a wireless internet connection and just like other people around there we want to choose between globe or smart. Like me i google a lot of times before i decided to choose the one. You have to choose the right one because if go to wireless internet most of them are 1 year to two year contract. That even if you want to cancel you have to pay the remaining months. It is unlike the line connections that you have to pay only two months penalty.

Like me i choose here in our province to get the Globe wireless dsl. In their contract it was a minimum of 1 year lock in period. Why i choose Globe? in our place they have a better and fastest internet speed than smart. And i notice in our place that most of houses with internet antenna is globe. I saw some that they already have smart bro antenna but got a new Globe dsl, i gues because they found out that globe is better than smart.

I do not recommend globe for everyone, it depends on your area. Try to survey on your area and not on internet. Its too broad, surveying on your location is better. Here in nueva ecija i can highly recommend Globe. Hope it helps.

leo, you are right! And that’s why it’s also important to start and check with their prepaid SIM’s first, before you commit to any long-term contract. It’s no fun having signed a 1-year deal and then only having limited or unreliable coverage. Hehe! L-)

nice experience you have there, but to my experience as a network solution specialist, our problem in the project is the distance(project resides in the province) from the cell site with a 3G signal. for now im working and some experimentation started last 2008, which proved to be running and stable, no matter what provider your using as long ypu get a good signal, i am running my 3G tatto and and Smartbro(USB) at a distance of 16Km, i get a 1.2 Mbps average,
the technology is outthere, all you have to do is think, innovate and experiment.

for now, i am trying to experiment at 30Km range, hopefully it will work.

Sergey and KiwiNomad, the SmartBro stick is made from Huawei and it is working with Windows 7, you just have to update the drivers. I found them some time ago on the Huawei support forum resolving this same problem of you for a friend. It was a little bit cumbersome to install, not like the usual way of updating a driver, but it actually works.

I want to comment on the service aspect of SMART Vs Globe.
Have been in Philippines for more than three years and I took Globe broadband a month back (Moved from SMART to Globe) when I moved to Eastwood City and I am totally frustrated.
1. Numerous complaints have resulted in their “Engineer” coming home to check the lines and at the end of it saying “I will report to “Technical” department as I cant do anything”.
2. Finally I got upset and wanted to speak to their manager by calling the Hotline but was told that it was not possible and the representative Jennifer Flower was fully aware of my case for last one month but could not give any definite time when the issue would be resolved.
3. It is not only the poor service but also the poor responses which frustrate the customers who are stuck in the contract

Ok… So ive scrolled down through this page reading some here and there. Ive confirmed that I dont know anything about phone technology except that I own a Droid, it works on CDMA, and I wanna bring it to the Philippines to access 3g networks to check email and perhaps send an occasional text. Im gonna have to pay to keep the service anyways, id just assume somehow enable it to work for me there as well.

Can someone tell me that im not SOL here… how can I get this to work and what kinda price range am I looking at.

Oops, didn’t see the comment until now. Am not sure about your CDMA Droid, Ben. CDMA is not that popular in Asia. There are some smaller providers in Indonesia or India that still use it, but their coverage is lousy at best. In Philippines you have basically only GSM-based Mobile Providers.

So your phone will most likely not work at all, as it’s a different mobile standard and a legacy one on top of that. If anyone knows of a good CDMA provider in the Philippines, please correct me and comment here.

I had a feeling that would be the answer…. but how about its 3g capabilities? do you suppose I could still access the internet or does that require my phone to be gsm as well. Sorry, just not a tech geek.

You are most welcome Ben! On the other hand, 3G phones are so bloody cheap meanwhile, you can even pick up a cheap Nokia when you arrive there, should do the trick.

Or get an unlocked 3G/UMTS USB stick, then you can change the SIM card based on your area of coverage on the fly. No need to buy a whole phone. Those USB sticks get cheaper by the minute these days, some carriers even give them out for free.

There is a Smart Starter Package in the Philippines, last time I checked it was around 999 Pesos, which comes out to something around 22 USD for the USB stick, the SIM card and some initial load for the SIM card. There is even a hack for it to make it carrier-independent.

Hi, Chris! Thanks for the article. Am planning a trip to the Philippines next month and bringing with me a Zoom Model 4595 3G Unlocked USB Modem GSM. Will this work with either Smart or Globe? And the SIM card that I need to buy in order to access the internet…is it a regular prepaid phone SIM card or it has to be a data SIM card? Thank you.

Jim D, in theory it should work, looks like it has the necessry technology, although I don’t know your specific model. Yes, most available SIM cards in the Philippines are prepaid. You won’t be able anyway to get a contract, if you are not a resident. Just go to any Smart or Globe shop and they will assist you with getting the right SIM card and set it up for you. If you are more technical, you can also do that yourself, it’s not that difficult and the how-to-info is all over the internet. Have a nice trip!

I just had an interesting run-in with globe broadband (ethernet connection)… we have globe broadband postpaid at my house and just yesterday they disconnected it after we have been waiting three months for our bills from them… Their excuse is that they cant print out bills anymore for our subdivision, but the funny thing is, if you go to globe to pay without a bill… THEY TURN YOU AROUND TELLING YOU THAT YOU NEED A BILL??? something seems to be missing in the chain of customer relations over there…
BTW, this is an awesome article! kudos to you Chris! I just wish you made this before we signed our lives over to Globe Tattoo…
However, one issue we had with smart postpaid (ethernet connection) about two years ago was the reliability… It would often go offline for about 4 to 6 hours almost every single day. But the speed was phenomenal compared to the globe connection we currently have.

Melody, sorry – I’ve never been to any place north of Manila and therefore have no experience with areas in Northern Luzon. Maybe someone else can help out? Alternatively just buy the cheap starter pack for a few Pesos and test, which provider performs better in your area before going into any long-term contract commitment.

enrico, if anything I would say, Smart’s honesty and quality has deteriorated quite some. Not coverage-wise, but on the billing/accounting side.

In my 2 months here from end of January to end of March I had ‘load’ deducted from my pre-paid account almost every 2-3 days. For instance, I used the 1.200 Pesos/month ‘Unlimited Surf Package’ and still Smart deducted 20 Pesos every few days for surfing the internet. When applying the UNLI Text Package 20 or 30 for 1 or 2 days unlimited texts, those expire normally at a certain time, but with grace period. When you try to activate the package again during grace period, the status says it’s still active and you get 1 Peso deducted to to your ‘false request’. But the package doesn’t work during the grace period. It’s seems all a fraud. Happened to me many times.

It seems, that Smart is getting more and more greedy. Problem for me was, that I wanted to retain my old mobile number, so I didn’t try out Globe, Sun or what else again. Next visit I probably will, its highway robbery, even though coverage and download quality of Smart’s 3G/HSDPA service is still good. :-/

– not all municipalities have the same frequency in their 3G tower.. please take note that SMART is using 850Mhz, 1900 Mhz and 2.1Ghz, and Globe tatto is using 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2000Mhz,

– try to check the ur equipment if it operates/handle that frequency (not all usb and other equipment using that freq)

– identify and make sure that your equipment is compatible to the frequency of the 3G site, this will enable u to get a good signal and good bandwidth.

– ive already tried using Huawei b933(850Mhz/using the ) with outdoor antenna (ive change the original panel antenna to yagi antenna, a range of 8-10Km away from the cell site can be done )a remarkable speed of 800 Kbps Down and 60Kbps upload.

Note :the panel antenna range is only for 3Km.. thats why i change ot to another one.

Sam Orchard, unfortunately, the quality and service of internet access in the Philippines seems to be deteriorating, especially since there are only 2 big providers (the other barely offer packages in the bigger center like Cebu and Manila). Also their billing seems to be not very accurate, I had it many times, that Smart billed me extra internet services of up to 20 Pesos per day, even though I had the monthly flat rate. You can walk, wait and complain at one of their service centers country-wide and they will normally reimburse it, but it’s a pain in the backside for a few pesos and should not happen in the first place.

Mark, I was in Donsol in Jan/Feb this year and Smart Internet worked fairly well, although there are pockets without coverage. Since I never used Globe anymore after 2009, I can’t comment on their coverage in the area. Good luck for your trip and ventures!

Hi Chris! Although a few years old, your article was still very helpful to me. I’ll be traveling to Bantayan Island in October and i’m wanting to take an unlocked GSM Android phone with me. The problem is, the more i read into it, the more confused i get. My concern is trying to find an unlock phone that will be able to pick up a 3G signal from Smart or Globe. With all this GSM / UMTS / HSDPA crap.. i get a little overwhelmed.

The phone i’m looking at says the following.

GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 900/2100, HSDPA 7.2

So based on most of what i’m reading, the phone will work in the Philippines and also be able to pick up a 3G signal ( since it states UMTS 900/2100 ) – However many are saying that it in fact does not pick up a 3G signal in The Philippines.

Anyway.. Thanks for the info.. Looks like i’ll be picking up a Smart SIM upon my arrival in Cebu City.

Teddy, thanks for the compliments. With a phone like that you should be fine with both Globe and Smart, although I found Smart to be more reliable especially in Cebu City and on Bantayan. Or you simply buy a cheap local phone and use it as your 3G modem with your company, doesn’t break the bank and any Smart Shop could install that for you. Although I agree that an Android Smartphone is much more fun than any ‘dumb phone’ available and it could tether a wireless hot spot also to use for your laptop.

Thanks for the suggestion , Chris. A friend of mine in Cebu City has already agreed to allow me to use his Smart Bro dongle while i’m on Bantayan Island. But yeah.. I want an android phone so i can pull it out , snap a picture of one of the beautiful sunset/sunrises as it’s happening and upload it directly to facebook in real time. Because we all know that most of the fun in taking a Vacation is making family / friends back home jealous :))

Teddy, hehe! I can understand you perfectly. bro! I have a HTC Legend Android phone since a bit over 1 year and while there are better and faster models out there, I still like that phone for its small form factor, sturdy aluminium unibody and it’s full set of features. So go ahead, use your Android with Smart, snap your pics and make yourself happy and your family and relatives jealous! :D

Hi Chris, I got to say good info. However, I’m an American living in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental. I have all the broadband sticks(Smart,Globe & Sun) This is the worst area to be in. The Globe stick works the best. I have download speeds above 900kb with it. Sun Is the worst. download of 8-10kb. Smart has lost it’s 3G here and you have to use GSM to use it. I need to give you a download for speeding up you broadband internet that really doubles your speed. It’s http://www.fullspeed.com It has made life better here in the mountains. We have no DSL or landline phones. There is No PLDT here. Have you ever been here ? Hope you get more input from broadband stick users. Prepaid really s**ks.

I got a Smart Bro plug-it in June and had several problems but all were resolved within a day or two by calling tech support *1888. I live 5 kilometers from Panabo City about an hour or less north of Davao where the signal comes from. I was surprised how good the signal was. When it worked, it worked well. I got tired of buying load so went to the wireless center in Davao and was approved for a postpaid account. About 6 weeks later the signal or its usability was getting worse quickly. I blamed this on an almost full hard drive and windows vista (3 year old Toshiba laptop). I took the plug-it and the laptop to the wireless center in Davao and it worked fine there! The tech guy also blamed a full hard drive and Vista so I got an external drive and freed up 50 gigs on the C drive, and I bought Win 7. The computer is now working perfectly considering its age but the bad performance of the Smart signal was unchanged.

I had taken the laptop to Panabo and there it also worked fine, this was before the upgrade. So the problem lies in my specific area. I had also suspected I was being punished as a bandwidth hog because I had downloaded a 180 mb file and a 700 mb file right before the problem started. Also there was a huge rain storm so I thought maybe the bay station servicing my home area (less than 2 kilometers north of Lasang, closer to Davao than Panabo) was damaged by the storm. One tech support person says the bay station servicing my area in undergoing enhancements but I don’t believe everything I’m told.

What’s weird about my problem is that the signal strength is good, remember I was happy with my SmartBro connection for 2 months or more or I wouldn’t have gotten a postpaid account, because it locks me into paying for 6 months whether I use it or not. About 95 percent of the time I wasn’t able to connect to this great signal, often 5 bar 3G. Then when it did connect the download rate was still zero, or it would go to one website and stop, or it would pick up my email and then stop, unable to send anything or get any websites. This is with a good signal. But during this time when I took the laptop and plug-it to Panabo or Davao, it worked good.

Two days ago a tech support person was hearing me say that my attorney is a lot closer than the Smart Wireless Center, because I went there already and they passed the buck on to me and I spend lots more money than I wanted to see if I could improve things. She told me to manually switch to a 2G signal, which I did, and then the email and signal stabilized but works so slow I feel I am living in Tibet or the Sahara desert instead of in a suburb of the 2nd largest city in the Philippines and the promises to have a supervisor call me within 24 hours have all been broken, every one.

Compare this to when I first started with SmartBro in June, when I got three phone calls from supervisors over my first issue, wanting to make sure my problem got solved. It makes me suspect that they profile customers according to how new they are, whether they’ve been hooked into a contract, whether they use a lot of bandwidth, whether they are good Catholics, or whatever. I would appreciate any feedback and I will also look into “unlocked 3G/UMTS USB stick” which I have never heard of, but I can’t keep throwing good money after bad. The whole point of this was to keep me home because I was spending too much money going to town to use internet cafes.

Thanks so much for this page–is there hope that Smart Bro is actually trying to solve my problem?

Pop65z and Luther, thanks for describing your first-hand experiences. That will surely help other users in your area. And yeah, too bad you can’t take it generally, the service reliability, coverage area and available bandwidth is unfortunately different everywhere. Hmmm! Way to go.

Nir, good question….but what do you need that SmartBro modem for anyway? Meanwhile you should be able to get any 3G modem much cheaper elsewhere. Electronics are usually more expensive and of lesser quality in the Philippines. You can order any similar modem from your preferred online retailer or walk into any IT shop near you. The Smart Card is unlocked and can be used with any 3G GSM/UMTS/HSDPA modem, it doesn’t have to be the original one. But what you wanna do with it outside the Philippines is anyway beyond me. Care to elaborate?

:)) Globe offers 15 minutes for 5 Pesos, Smart offers 30 minutes for 10 Pesos. That looks on first view like a win for Globe.

What makes globe win? Are you blind? They are even. Globe 5 pesos for 15 min if you add another 5 pesos it makes 10. All I can say that in mobile history Smart is the MOST CORRUPT network in the Philippines. Why? Load 30 pesos in your smart phone it says 3 days expiration if I don’t use it after 3 days it’s gone. Why its gone I am paying for it I am not unlimited text or call? I do have the right aight coz i’m paying for it? While globe 20 pesos can reach weeks.
There are reasons why smart has a widest coverage and globe is not. I build radio repeaters commercial, wi-fi and even security solution repeaters. This repeaters are simple to build but do you know how much it’s cost every one repeater? It cost 600.000 pesos. So think about mobile phone repeaters with wireless internet are they simple? The thing is globe targeted areas that have thousands of people while smart doesn’t care co’z they can trick people even in court smart has many cases than globe.
If you are thinking of what network you should use be wise not what you see what you heard like this guy.
If you think globe tatto has worst prepaid issue then it makes them even.

By the way I don’t use globe or smart I only use radio coz they said the best thing in life is free and I don’t pay for my internet shit.

3G technology are now present in rural areas, normally the range of the 3G signal is upto 2km max from the cell site getting a good internet speed…..as a network solution specialist/provider, ive done spme experiment and it works, you can still get a good internet speed upto 10km using tweek equipment from globe and smart…….speed upto 3.6mbps max… and at 10km… u can get a 500kbps to 1mbps…i tried it in some areas in mindanao…

yaraodildara de ojo, it’s easy to lament about other options, if you can use faster technology for free. Unfortunately, most travelers are not that lucky and have to make a choice between Smart and Globe. In the end, some of your points are valid, but if you pay for 30mins for a short check of your FB or only for 15 minutes makes a HUGE difference…..it’s actually double the money, if you count it right. Alright, I got it, you don’t pay for it, so stop counting already.

Jun Olivia, great tests you did there. If they really updated speed and reliability, that would be great news for local users and travelers alike, hopefully not only in Mindanao. :D

Hi chris! Well, i’ve been having problems with my 3G signal for more than a month now. I’ve been using globe for more than 5 years. But since jan 6, for unknown reason, my 3G signal just went *poof*…at first, we were not able to rcv msgs, incoming calls, and no gprs/3G, but lil my lil theyve resolved each of it, except for my 3G. i’ve been complaining abt it, endlessly and tirelessly, calling them, and thru twitter, but no improvements have been made. I bought a Smart sim, and there’s no 3G also. U might wonder f there’s something wrong w/ my phone, and no, there isnt, when i go downtown, it works perfectly fine. Do these things happen? The 3G signal suddenly cuts off? Reps tell me all the time that there’s nothing wrong in our area. Im thinking maybe it got affected by sendong. But its been two months. And im far from the affected areas. Now im planning to buy those 3G boosters in the market.

hmmm just to explain how the cellsite works, globe cellsite works with a 3G cignal and GPRS cignal, so it means that your cellsite is transmitting 2(cignal)frequency range, please ask your provider if the 3G cignal(frequency) is still working in your area.

thanks for the info. but ive called them for about three times already, no such luck! They always tell me, ‘we don’t see any problems in your area’ i also have this globe tattoo..while searching for networks, SUN and SMART have 3G signals, and globe? 2G, by night time? Nada! No signal can be detected! Whats up w/ that? Ill try to contact them later on. Pffft!

Hi,
I have found this very informative and for that reason I have decided to share my experience with Globe and Smart internet connections for Lawaan Samar.

I recently visited Lawaan Samar and stayed there for approx two weeks over the month of April, sharing the remainder of the month several days at a time in Tacloban.

While there I had two laptops 1) Toshiba Satellite L745 – 15″ with WiFi and 2) a Samsung RF 711 – 17.3″ with WiFi. I had Globe Tattoo post-paid USB stick and an unlocked Australian (Vodafone) Pocket WiFi with a Smart Sim card in it (SmartBro?). I rarely could get a Globe Tattoo connection on either laptop and not always a SmartBro connection on the Toshiba but could almost always get a SmartBro connection on the more powerful Samsung RF711 laptop.

I returned to Australia and left the Samsung RF711 laptop with my friend in Lawaan and took the Toshiba with me.

At this stage the connection has been good enough to chat (with slow transmission of msges tho on Yahoo Messenger) not been good enough to support a video call but good enough to allow one webcam to be open although which further slows down the msge transmissions.

My question here is does anyone know of any other ways to improve internet communication between Australia and Lawaan in Eastern Samar?

Is Skype or Facebook chat/video call facilities less demanding on signal strength than say Yahoo Messenger?

And another question. Is 3G available in Lawaan (I cant recall what was displayed on my Pocket WiFi display screen) for the use of a mobile phone to take advantage of Viber free txt msges and calls?

Find out what kind of connection is there in Lawaan using Smart .. GSM .. 3G .. and buy your friend a signal amplifier / repeater with an outside and inside antenna. Search on ebay.ph for this item and you will notice an almost unbelievable immediate improvement not only in the quality of internet speeds and connectivity, but if you call your friend on their mobile phone the call quality is amazing.

Hi Rogelio, I’m sorry, most of what you said, I can’t understand. But are you saying there are 2 new unlimited internet plans P420 for 30 days and P1.400 for 60 days? If yes, that would be very interesting, as it sounds quite cheap, compared to the plans available previously. Is that Globe, Smart or any other provider? Can use for Smartphone as well? ;)

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